Preposterous and Lame
Rating: 4 of 10 
Once I had seen the trailer, I was blown away and I just had to see this movie. Today's trailers may be much superior to those of the seventies or eighties, but even amongst the good ones that for 'Being John Malkovich' is outstanding. And with the ratings this film had generally received, I was caught by the hype. Unfortunately, I was fooled.
Some movies are really original. Others are derivative. But then there are those which try so hard to be original that the only piece of originality is the initial attempt at originality. The movie jumpstarts with some nice and indeed original jokes, most of which happen on the 7 1/2 floor, then loses pace while seemingly looking for a possible direction to take, until it finally evolves into a sort of tragedy. But at the time the end is reached, there isn't really any tragic left - only a big, boring, pointless and dull emptiness.
The movie tries hard, very hard, to be different and weird, and the only thing it actually can be is being stupid. The talents of John Cusack and Cameron Diaz are simply wasted and not discernible in this movie, only John Malkovich sort of shines, the appearance of Charlie Sheen as himself being a nice joke. I had the impression that at the beginning of the movie were only two ideas: The 7 1/2 floor and the hole in Malkovich's head. These two needed to be compressed into a story, and apart from some nice and interesting moments and its great potential, the movie was thoroughly disappointing, undeserving its hype, its high rating and good critics. This is a big hunk of junk, intermixed with some bright spots which are solely responsible for the still too high rating I've provided. And it's so sad, it could've been much better. Stick with the trailer instead, it doesn't get any better.
June 17th, 2000
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